The invention relates to a bottle opener. The bottle opener is comprised of a corkscrew with a rotatable handle and an axial screw, anchored in the rotatable handle, which can be screwed into a cork, and a cap cutter, which can be used separately from the corkscrew.
Various bottle openers are known, wherein a corkscrew is equipped with a cutter for cutting caps. The advantage of these bottle openers is that the cap cutter formed on the corkscrew is always available together with it. But it is disadvantageous that for cutting the cap, the entire corkscrew must be picked up and its cutter must be guided around the bottle. Moreover, with these bottle openers there is only one cutter provided, so that such a corkscrew must be guided over 360 degrees around the neck of the bottle in order to completely cut off the cap.
There are also bottle openers with a corkscrew and a cap cutter provided with it, which can be used separately from the corkscrew. The advantage of such a set is that the cap cutter is a small, handy part, which can be used separately from the corkscrew and with preferably more than one cutter. Thanks to the plurality of cutters, the required angle of rotation for cutting the cap all around is as small as possible. However, these sets have the disadvantage that the cap cutter and the corkscrew like to go their separate ways, so that both parts are not necessarily available to the user in case of need. To prevent this, holders for inserting the corkscrew and the cap cutter are made available, for example.
A self-extracting corkscrew is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,992, which has a guide element for supporting a screw element on the neck of the bottle, and a screw element with a screw fastened on a rotatable handle, which can be introduced into the guide element from above. The rotatable handle has end sections which can be flipped over. With the end section flipped down, the screw element can be inserted from below into the guide element, so that the tip of the screw is protected by the upper end of the guide element for storing the corkscrew. A cap cutter is embodied in the guide element. For using the cap cutter, the screw element must be removed from the guide element.
In connection with this corkscrew it is disadvantageous that it is necessary to remove the screw element from the corkscrew for using the cap cutter. Moreover, the cap cutter is only equipped with two oppositely located blades and therefore must be rotated over at least 180 degrees. Also, in comparison with cutting wheels, a worse cutting result must be expected with blades.
A cap cutter in combination with a corkscrew is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,086. The cap cutter is designed to be ring-shaped, with a through-opening through the ring. The corkscrew can be separated from the cap cutter and has two arms, which can be pivoted toward and away from each other. These arms run together at their lower ends and are designed in such a way that their lower ends fit into the through-opening of the cap cutter. In this case the cap cutter is used as a base, which can keep the corkscrew in an upright position. The cap cutter is equipped with two cutting wheels. In one embodiment, an additional guide wheel is also provided. The wheels enclose identical angles between each other.
It is disadvantageous with this set that, for using the corkscrew, the cap cutter must be separated from the corkscrew. Moreover, for cutting the cap all around, the cap cutter must be rotated over at least 180 degrees.
Finally, a chargeable electrical corkscrew is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,579. It has a drive mechanism which can be switched between forward and reverse. A chargeable energy source and the drive mechanism are housed in one body. A corkscrew driven by the drive mechanism protrudes axially from the body. An envelope element has a first end, into which the body can be displaceably inserted, and a second end divided into two arms and constituting a stop which can work together with an opening of a bottle. A C-shaped cap cutter can be inserted between these arms. The cap cutter is equipped with three cutting wheels.
It is disadvantageous in connection with this corkscrew that it is necessary to remove the cap cutter from the corkscrew for being able to use the corkscrew.